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REARING.
Rearing is an awkward vice,
No rider ever thinks it nice.
When the horse prances on two feet
It's difficult to keep one's seat.
This lady riding in the Row
Is a good rider, you must know.
When on two legs her horse would soar
She quickly brings him down to four.
SAGACITY.
There is danger at this place which the horse can see, but which the
rider fails to detect. They are in the midst of a swamp where one false
step would mean a horrible death in the quagmire on the verge of which
the horse has pulled up. The man uses whip and spur, but the horse
refuses to move. Finally the rider leaves the horse to himself to find a
way round which brings them both to safety.
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BOLTING.
See this runaway flecked with foam
Galloping fast as he can for home,
Caring nought for the shouting man
Running also as fast as he can.
Flung by the bolter on the roadside
Small is his chance of a pleasant ride.
Two legs matched in a race with four--
Perhaps they'll meet at the stable door.
PATIENCE.
The cab horse is a useful steed,
Ever handy, good at need--
A patient uncomplaining jade,
What should we do without his aid?
By day, by night he may be had,
Be the weather good or be it bad.
Many a knock and many a fall
He gets, and yet survives them all.
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BUCKING.
When horses buck they take a bound
With all their four feet off the ground.
Unless they know just what to do
And how to keep their seats all through.
The riders come off fast and thick
When horses start this Yankee trick.
But with the cowboys of the West
The horses come off second best.
PERSEVERANCE.
The horse affords the best example amongst animals of perseverance: he
will go on until he falls exhausted or dead. On the Yorkshire moors,
after a heavy fall of snow, the roads are quite lost, and it often
happens that the mailman has to unharness his horse (the cart being
blocked by the snow), and trust to the horse's courage and endurance to
carry the mails from village to village. It has been known that the
driver has been overcome by the intense cold, when the horse has found
his way unaided to the nearest accustomed stopping place.
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